Family helps rescue an sea bird covered in oil

By Lauren Beavis via SWNS

These pictures show how a family helped rescue an oil-covered sea bird - and took it home for a bath.

Ziggy Austin, 40, and his three young kids cared for the guillemot which was found on a local beach in Torquay, England.

It was found covered in oil on Monday and Ziggy and his family took it home for a clean up.

The bird has since been given to the South Devon Seabird Trust who are looking after it.

The lone guillemot found at a beach near Torquay on January 3. (Ziggy Austin via SWNS)

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Ziggy added that once cleaned up the guillemot - who they have named Gary - quickly became "one of the family."

"We cleaned it up. It was in poor condition. We need to spread awareness of an ongoing pollution incident," he said.

"At the moment nobody seems to know the source, and it could have happened a week ago over the Christmas break.

''Someone said that ships sometimes illegally flush tanks or dump oil.

"The birds affected are those that spend all their time on the water so the pollution could originate off shore somewhere.

''But no one knows where it’s coming from."